The wide use of electronic content has resulted in users requiring larger amounts of electronic storage to store such electronic content. However, it is generally not unusual for a user to accumulate an amount of electronic content that exceeds the capacity of a computing device. For example, the amount of electronic storage on a personal computer may be substantially larger than that of a portable media player. Accordingly, the user is required to limit the amount of electronic content transferred to the portable media player from the personal computer. Similar issues can arise when trying to synchronize the electronic content on two separate computing devices with dissimilar storage capacities.
One solution to such issues has generally been to allow additional storage to be added to the deficient device. However, adding storage to some types of devices is generally impractical or even impossible. For example, some types of portable media players may not be configured to allow their storage capacity to be expanded. In another example, the storage capacity of some computing devices, such as a portable or laptop computer can be expanded by attaching an external storage device, such as an external hard drive. However, this solution can be impractical, as the portability of the laptop computer may become limited.
Another solution to such issues has generally been to allow computing devices access to additional storage via a network connection. That is, a remote computing device is configured to allow a local computing device to utilize the storage capacity of the remote computing device. In operation, a file with electronic content can be stored on the remote computing device. The file is then utilized by the local computing device by transferring or copying the file from the remote computing device to the local computing device. The file can be permanently or temporarily stored on the local computing. However, this can result in significant lag time for access, as a user at the local computing device must wait for the entire file to be transferred prior to access. Further, in the case that the file is only temporarily stored on the local computing device, it would be necessary to update the remote computing system with any updates to the file. Again, this generally requires that the file on the local computing device be then transferred from the local computing device back to the remote computing device, adding additional lag time.